How to make a Time Lord blush
by Little Miss Insufferable
Summary: Or the five times The Doctor and Clara didn't kiss and the one time they did.
1. I won't be talking if I'm kissing you

"RUN!" The Doctor bellowed at the top of his lungs as his feet skidded around the corner of the strange, purple building.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Clara called back as she picked up a sprint by his side. The Doctor was probably only going at three quarters of his fastest pace, but being smaller with shorter legs had its disadvantages – namely struggling to keep up with gangly Time Lords. To be on the safe side, Clara extended an arm and grabbed a hold of his hand tightly. There. Now he couldn't accidentally forget and leave her behind. Not that he ever would…. He was The Doctor after all. Even if she'd got on her knees and begged him to go on without her, he wouldn't have thought twice about staying by her side.

"Can you see them?" His words were interspersed with heavy breaths as his feet kept up their rhythmic pounding of the earth beneath them.

Clara craned her neck round to glance over her shoulder. "Not anymore… I think we might have lost them." She panted back, struggling to keep up the fast pace.

"Oh that's what they want us to think. You can't just _lose_ a Jakovite. Well… I had a friend who lost one in a game of hide and seek once… but that's beside the point." The Doctor had slowed his pace slightly as he went off on a tangent, gesturing animatedly with his free arm.

"Doctor… Now really isn't the time for reliving past experiences." Clara chastised lightly, grateful for the adoption of a slower pace. Where they were running to she wasn't entirely sure, but she sincerely hoped that this was one of the few times that The Doctor actually had a plan – she didn't much fancy becoming some angry alien's lunch.

"Sorry… side-tracked. Reach into my pocket and pull out my sonic screwdriver, will you?"

"Can't you get it yourself?"

"No, I'm busy."

"Doing what?!"

"Running!"

Clara's mouth opened and closed in frustration before she finally settled on a roll of her eyes and resigned herself to retrieving his screwdriver. Honestly, for a 1200 year old Time Lord The Doctor could certainly behave like an impossible child at times. With her hand not interlaced with his, she delved into his pocket and rummaged around for the sonic device.

"Ow! Careful!" The Doctor exclaimed when she inadvertently pinched his thigh through the material of his pocket.

"Don't complain when you could have done this yourself." She chastised lightly before finally wrapping her fingers around the cold metal object and tugging it free from its confines. The Doctor took it from her hand less than a second later and aimed it at the shed-like building they were running towards. The familiar sound emitted from the screwdriver reached her ears and the small door on the front promptly swung open.

"That's your brilliant plan? Hiding in a shed?" Clara asked disbelievingly as she glanced sideways at the man running beside her – her expression clearly showing just how unimpressed she was.

"It's not a shed! Now shut up and get inside." He replied indignantly as he dropped back behind her and pushed her gently through the door. The doorway was so small that even Clara had to duck down to get inside – The Doctor was practically crawling in on his hands and knees. Clara stifled a laugh behind her hand.

"Right. That should do it." The Doctor ascertained as he ran his sonic screwdriver around the edges of the door and effectively sealed it shut.

"It's a little… _cosy _in here, don't you think?" Clara remarked as a small smirk played on her lips. "I mean really Doctor… If you wanted an excuse to get near me, you only had to ask. Frankly this is all a little elaborate for the sake of a quick snog." She teased him with the deliberate intent to watch him squirm and flap about. It worked like a charm.

"I- You- That's not… This is not- Shut up!" A tinge of red crept onto his cheeks as The Doctor squirmed and stammered uselessly. As expected, his two new favourite words came into play and Clara's smirk only broadened further.

"I won't be talking if I'm kissing you." She pushed further, testing the waters to see just how far she could take the game. As if to iterate her point, Clara took a deliberate step closer to the flustered man in the bow tie – effectively trapping him between her and the wall. To her surprise, he didn't dart away. Even as she lent her face in closer to his, he remained stock still against the wall behind him. In fact, if she hadn't known better she could have sworn she'd heard a sharp intake of breath that certainly hadn't come from her.

The Doctor's mouth opened and closed wordlessly and Clara resisted the urge to grin triumphantly. For the first time ever, The Doctor was speechless. Still inching closer, Clara's hands reached out to grip the lapels of his jacket and her weight shifted onto the balls of her feet as she pushed herself up onto her toes. The Doctor's eyes widened, but still he didn't move away from his companion's advancing lips. With a small smirk she shut her eyes and briefly caught the sight of his fluttering too before a tug of his jacket had his breath falling hot on her mouth through his parted lips.

The wall to their left disintegrated into a pile of dust on the floor and Strax stood upright in the whole that remained. "Sir, you seem to have a human male attached to the front of your jacket. Shall I disintegrate him?" The Sontaran asked as he eyed Clara suspiciously.

"No! No… Strax, this is Clara." The Doctor responded as he hastily extracted himself from his position between her and the wall. His cheeks were stained a bright shade of red and his hands couldn't seem to find a place to settle. Clara, on the other hand, simply watched him squirm with mild amusement and a slight touch of disappointment that she did well to disguise.

"Oh… Sorry, boy." Strax apologised to Clara with a glance in her direction. Distinguishing between genders still wasn't his strong point. "Sir, you appear to have turned an alarming shade of red. Have you been poisoned?" His voice took on a tone of genuine concern as Strax turned his attention back to the Doctor, who blushed further in response. Clara snickered loudly from behind him.

"No- I- Shut up!" The infamous two words were back again as The Doctor whirled around to shoot Clara a rather pathetic look that sat somewhere between a glare and a pout. She only laughed harder.


	2. It's been my pleasure

The TARDIS door swung open with a familiar creak and The Doctor stepped wordlessly inside. Barely a step behind, Clara crossed over the threshold and into the confines of the blue police box.

"Doctor…" She called to him hesitantly as the Time Lord came to stand with hands rested upon the console in the centre of the room. He didn't respond.

"Doctor, it's okay." Clara tried again, taking a step closer and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. He shrugged her off with a roll of his shoulder.

"No, Clara…. Don't you see? It's _not._ It's _not okay. _It never is when I..." His voice hitched slightly as The Doctor took in a shuddering breath. "When I can't save them." He finished with a pitiful hang of his head as his fingers gripped tighter at the console beneath them.

Clara had only seen him like this once before – several Wednesdays ago when they'd taken a trip to the Hangora Rambade. The species that inhabited the planet – the Dagroons – had taken a group of researchers hostage after they'd managed to crash land on the planet. The Doctor had saved all but one of them; a young girl who'd gotten caught in the fire on their way back to the TARDIS. He'd not spoken for what had felt like an eternity before taking her home and bidding her goodnight. This time round, Clara was determined not to leave him alone with his misery and guilt for who knew how long.

"It wasn't your fault. I know everyone probably always says that… but it wasn't." Her voice took on a soothing tone as Clara tried her best to reason with the man in front of her. He shook his head, his fingers flexing against the metal of the console again.

"She just wanted to see the stars. She was perfectly harmless and it _murdered her._" The Doctor spat angrily before straightening up and reaching out to pull at levers and switches with practiced hands. "I'm going to take you home now." He stated simply, still refusing to look at her.

"I'm not leaving you – not like this." Clara's arms came up to fold stubbornly across her chest as she voiced her objection. Every inch of her screamed stubborn determination. The Doctor would have to drag her kicking and screaming from the TARDIS before she'd leave him alone in the box.

"I'll be fine. Next Wednesday will come round and I'll be outside your door like always. Go back to Angie and Artie, Clara." He couldn't have sounded less fine if he'd tried as The Doctor moved to flick another switch.

"What part of 'I'm not leaving you' is so difficult to understand?" She threw back with an eyebrow raised at his back. He still refused to look at her and his hands continued to move as though she'd not spoken at all. Stubbornly, Clara reached out to rest a hand over his, which immediately stilled over the lever it sat on – the one she knew would take her back home to the Maitlands.

"Clara…" The Doctor's protests were growing weaker by the minute and if the slump in his shoulders was anything to go by, Clara would say she was mere seconds away from winning him over.

"Let's go somewhere else. Somewhere quiet." She offered gently, her hand not moving from where it rested over his. "Just for a little while until you stop beating yourself up over this." Clara added and smiled as his hand turned under hers to intertwine their fingers. Wordlessly, he used his free hand to change the TARDIS' coordinates and re-programme their destination to somewhere else in time and space. She didn't ask where they were going – The Doctor obviously knew the perfect place to go for a touch of peace and quiet.

His hand came to rest over the take-off lever and this time Clara didn't move to stop him. One tug and the TARDIS jolted into flight, hurtling them towards their destination. Clara's hand held The Doctor's in a death grip to keep from falling to the ground as the other gripped tightly onto the console. The flight was surprisingly less bumpy than usual – almost as if the TARDIS knew The Doctor needed taking care of this time round.

The console room fell still mere moments later, signalling that the blue box had reached its destination. Clara spared a glance up at the man beside her, before releasing his hand and making her way over to the door. She pulled it open in one swift movement and poked her head curiously outside. What she saw took her breath away. The sky was painted bright with a blend of shimmering pinks and purples; the colours mixing and swirling together to form a resplendent pattern against the inky black backdrop of the night sky. What Clara presumed to be stars glistened and scintillated in erratic, elaborate formations that gave a crystal-like appearance amidst the swirls of luminous colour.

"The Inglasoreldas." The Doctor stated quietly as he stepped out onto the dusty, deep purple rock of the planet's surface. "This planet was once home to the Ratonites, but they died out several hundred years ago. Turned out their own atmosphere was slowly poisoning them all." He explained as he wandered over to stand by Clara's side at the edge of the mountain-like structure they stood upon.

"Wait- it's not going to kill us too, is it?" Clara asked, suddenly a little concerned for their safety. The Doctor shook his head swiftly in response.

"The TARDIS has created a shield around us. We're safe from the gases given off by the Inglasoreldas." He explained slowly as his eyes settled on the majestic spectacle in the sky above them.

"It's beautiful, Doctor." Clara observed with a warm smile up in his direction. To her surprise, she caught the first signs of a small smile in return before her eyes were inadvertently drawn back up to the sky.

"Isn't it just?" He agreed with a slightly more prominent smile. It was only then that he caught his gaze on Clara rather than the view and jolted bolt upright in surprise at his own mind. It always was a traitorous thing.

Naturally, Clara had caught him watching her but chose not to say a word on the matter. "Thank you – for everything." Her eyes shifted back to meet his gaze with another beaming smile as she voiced her gratitude. With everything The Doctor did for the universe, Clara thought that it was about time someone thanked him.

"It's been my pleasure, Clara. Truly." His hands reached up to cup her face as his voice dropped several decibels. Softly, Clara's hand came up to rest over one of his and he smile – a broad, genuine smile. This… This was her doctor. The mad man with his snogbox and terrible fashion sense and a chin that's just a little too big for his face. Her tall, gangly Time Lord who can never seem to control his own limbs, much less what happens to come out of his mouth at the most inopportune moments in time. Her perfect, idiot of a man.

So lost in her thoughts was she, that Clara failed to notice the way her own body had instinctively started to inch closer to The Doctor's. Her hands had taken the opportunity provided by her lack of concentration to find their way to the material of his jacket lapels. Yet what surprised her most wasn't the fact that her body was clearly intending to kiss The Doctor of its own accord, but that, for not the first time since she'd met him, The Doctor didn't seem to be making any attempt to stop her.

"Sir! Sir! Disaster!" The familiar voice of the Sontaran rang out across the air as Strax burst out from within the TARDIS.

"Strax?!" The Doctor shouted in both confusion and surprise as he leapt backwards away from his equally started companion. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I regret to inform you that you forgot to return me home after my last visit to the TARDIS." Strax informed him simply before narrowing his eyes ever so slightly. "Sir, your eyes appear to be leaking. Are we under attack?" He asked curiously as his short legs took him a step closer to the still puzzled Doctor. "Should I bring out the disintegration beam?" He added in a low, conspiratorial whisper that came out almost as loud as his normal voice.

"What? No! There is nothing wrong with my eyes." The Doctor stated defensively, his face as red as a tomato as he tried and failed to discretely wipe away the traces of tears he'd not realised were there until now. "See? Perfectly fine." He added for good measure and promptly cleared his throat. As he straightened his bow tie in what he hoped to be a casual manner, both Clara and Strax shot him equally disbelieving looks.


	3. The let you live to death

"Doctor, I'm scared." Clara's voice was barely above a whisper as her eyes locked with stone. Her head itched to turn around and meet the gaze of the man she could feel stood mere feet away from her, but fear and The Doctor's insistent instructions kept her frozen firmly in place.

"I know, I know… But everything's going to be alright. I promise." The Time Lord soothed gently as his own eyes locked with yet more stone.

"You're lying." She answered instantly, her gaze still unwavering.

"I- er- well… yes." The Doctor admitted reluctantly. There was a brief pause filled only with the sound of their steady breathing before Clara opened her mouth to respond.

"Are we going to die?" He didn't need to look at her face to know that she was fighting back tears as Clara voiced her question. It tugged at both of his hearts to know that she was afraid and there was nothing he could do to comfort her. For the first time ever, there was no plan – no brilliant idea teetering on the edge of his mind that could take them both out of harm's way and land them back safe in the TARDIS. For once, The Doctor was very much out of his depth.

"No… We're not going to die." He answered quietly, to which he heard Clara's feet shuffle ever so slightly over the ground behind him.

"Then what?" She asked with morbid curiosity. A part of her honestly didn't want to know what was going to happen to them both if it wasn't death, but the other part was curious to find out what could possibly be so bad that wasn't death.

"The angels… They send you back. Back in time." The Doctor explained with a small, frustrated hand gesture. It was getting to him – Clara could tell even with her back turned towards the man with the sonic screwdriver and the not-so-cool bow tie. Not having a plan… Not having any way to save them both… It bothered The Doctor more than she could probably ever understand. It was what he did, after all; saved people. And when he couldn't… Well she couldn't bear to witness the broken look on his face.

"Time travel? So can we come back? In the TARDIS?" Clara asked in an attempt to clarify the severity of the situation. Judging from the way The Doctor was behaving, her questions were more a product of wishful thinking than any real belief that anything could be done to help the situation.

"No… Without me here to pilot her, the TARDIS will be stranded. She'll grow old and gather dust until I can come back to her the long way round." He explained with a slow shake of his head. Clara's fate would not be quite so fortunate.

"And what about me?" She voiced the question she wasn't quite sure she wanted to know the answer to. What if they went back centuries? Her human lifespan would leave her dead from old age long before she'd be able to come back to the TARDIS with the eternally living Time Lord.

"You'll-," He tried and failed to get the beginning of the sentence out. "The angels… they send you back in time and let you live to death – feed off of the memories and the experiences and the life you would have had here in the present." The Doctor explained in the most matter-of-fact way possible. The thought of having to watch Clara grow old and die beside him was one he didn't particularly want in his head.

More questions pressed at the front of her mind, but the stinging in her eyes from minutes without blinking was becoming too strong to ignore any longer. "Doctor… I can't hold out much longer." She admitted, her voice taking on a slight tinge of panic.

"I know… I-," he began, the sentence cutting off in his throat. There was nothing he could do to save them, but at least they could both go down together. "On my count, turn around." The Doctor ordered gently, to which Clara responded with a nod he couldn't quite see. He took her silence as acceptance and curled his hands into nervous fists. "One, two…" He said the numbers slowly, hesitating slightly before opening his mouth to say the last one; "Three!"

In a flash they both span round to face each other. The Doctor's hands came up to cup Clara's face in the space of the same second, tugging her lips to within inches of his and then-

"Exterminate!" The eerily familiar robotic voice sounded in the graveyard as stone shattered to pieces around them. The Doctor's eyes opened wide in surprise, his cheeks flushing as a slightly miffed Clara stared up at him with one eyebrow raised. He wasn't sure what was worse – the fact that he had been caught very nearly locking lips with his admittedly rather pretty companion, or that there was at least one Dalek currently stood behind him. If weeping angels had been bad, this was catastrophic.

"Doctor?" Clara's voice sounded among the confusion as she attempted to knock the Time Lord out of his suddenly frozen state. Apparently the mention of his name was all it took to jolt him back into action, but it wasn't his companion's voice that registered in his head – it was that of one of the Dalek's behind them.

"Ruuuuuuun!" He bellowed as he grabbed Clara's hand in a vice grip and promptly leapt over the remains of a weeping angel. Dragged off with no say in the matter, Clara was forced to stumble over the crumbled stone and attempt to force her legs to keep up with The Doctor's far longer ones.

Close behind them, the sound of Dalek fire could be heard; bouncing off of gravestones and memorials as the pair weaved their way through the graveyard in a bundle of long limbs and short choppy strides. The Doctor only hoped that he'd remembered to leave the TARDIS somewhere conveniently nearby.


End file.
